CHAPTER 18
“This is so cool” Delilah beamed once we reached the mountains. I nodded my head in agreement. The place was huge but it had a cozy cottage feeling to it. Delilah and I ran to the huge window and looked out where the ski hill was. It was absolutely stunning. There were family and friends skiing or snowboarding down the mountain.
“Okay senior classes gather around and pay attention” Mr. Hampton who was one of the teachers. He was a funny middle aged man who understood us teenagers better than any other teacher I’ve ever known – well except for Mr. Roy and his brother who are pretty cool, but I’ve known Mr. Hampton for a longer time. There were 175 of us seniors in the school but most of them went on vacation with family and stuff so there were only 52 of us that were here.
“Seeing that there are only 52 of you…thank god” Mr. Hampton whispered the last part making some of us laugh. “There will be 4 to a room. 13 rooms in all” he explained. “The sheets for your roommates are right here over at this table, and please be careful not to disturb the guests here. Remember you represent Mantis High” he said before dismissing us.
Delilah and I ran to the sheets to see if we were rooming together.
“Yes” she squealed when she saw my name and hers. “Natalie's with us too” she beamed “and…NO, this can’t be happening to us” she wailed stomping her foot like a little baby looking at the sheet.
“Delilah calm down, you’re making a scene” I said looking around seeing that people were watching us like we were crazy.
“You would freak out too when you find out who’s with us” she sulked. I looked at her then looked at the sheet. The last name made my blood boil and my teeth clenched.
“You’ve got to be kidding me we’re rooming with ASHLEY!” I shrieked. Delilah nodded her head sadly. I sighed and took my suitcase.
“Come on” I said grumpily. There was no way I was going to let Ashley ruin my time here.
We were room number 503, the very top of the lodge. Once we finally reached our room I took out the key and swiped it making the door open. Both of our mouths dropped. The room was HUGE! It was like a little cottage inside a room. There were too beds that were both king-sized. And a comfy looking couch on the window which had an amazing view. The couch was in front of a fireplace and above it mounted a huge flat screen T.V.
“Holy Crap Lori come check out the bathroom” Delilah screamed excitedly. I ran over to her and went into the bathroom.
“Whoa” I breathed. “This isn’t a bathroom, its paradise” I whispered. There was a Jacuzzi by the window, white cupboards everywhere. The sinks were huge and shiny. And the bathtub was big that it could fit 8 people in it. And to the right of it there was a walk in shower with a glass door. The floors were a light peach tile color and the mirrors were big as well. Even the toilet was amazing.
“I may never leave this bathroom” Delilah said looking around.
“Yeah just put in a flat screen T.V. and a mini refrigerator and this is my new room” I joked. Delilah laughed and linked arms with me. We walked out of the bathroom and went to unpack.
“I feel sorry for Natalie. She has to share a bed with Ashley” Delilah said looking over at the other king-sized bed in the room. I nodded my head in agreement. Just at that moment the room door opened and there was arguing.
“All I'm asking is why you had to bring so many suitcases. We’re only here for a week” I heard Natalie say.
“Ugh. You’re pathetic. One is for my clothes, one has my shoes, one has my make-up and accessories and the last one has my bathroom essentials” Ashley answered in an obvious tone. I looked at Delilah and mouthed “4 suitcases?” she rolled her eyes and went to help Natalie.
After everyone was unpacked and a lot of dirty looks thrown to Ashley for complaining, Delilah, Natalie and I went to go find the guys. We found them outside throwing snowballs at each other. When they saw us they smiled evilly and turned to us.
“Boys vs. girls” Dylan shouted before chucking snowballs at us. We screamed as we ran around the other side of the building to take cover and start forming balls of our own. When the boys came around we threw our balls at them with all our might.
“Ahhh, ok, ok we give” Dylan surrendered.
“Pussies” Delilah teased as she high fived Natalie and me.
“Let’s go snowboarding” Drew insisted.
“Yeah sounds like a great idea” Natalie smiled at him. He looked at her and grinned before Dylan pulled him away.
“Come on dude let’s go get your board before you melt the snow” I heard Dylan chuckle. I giggled and followed them.
“Let’s have a race. Loser has to buy everyone hot chocolate” Dylan said looking directly at me. I raised an eyebrow and walked closer to him.
“Bring it.” I said before getting on my board.
“My bet is on Lori” Eric smiled at me. I looked at him and blush a thousand shades of red.
“Us too” Delilah and Natalie cheered.
“I'm with the girls and Eric. I know Lor’s going to win” Drew smirked.
“Thanks for having my back dude” Dylan mumbled. I laughed and got myself in position.
“On your mark, get set, go” Delilah shouted. I blasted off down the hill. I did some small tricks on my way down like grabbing my board and doing nose- grabs which caused me to get some cheers from my friends. Dylan started gaining speed making him ahead of me. I gritted my teeth and gained on him. There was a bump in front of me and I didn’t know where else to go without bumping into anyone so I sucked in my breath and glided over it. I went up high in the air. Higher than I expected and did a backwards flip then landing it perfectly before skiing down the bottom beating Dylan.
“How did you do that?” Dylan asked astonished when he got to me. To be honest I'm surprised I'm still standing upward; my legs were threatening to cave as my whole body shook. I didn’t even mean to do it, but it was either that or crash, even though I could have killed myself doing that flip. But I shook it off nonchalantly and smirked at Dylan.
“Guess you’re buying hot chocolate” I laughed. Everyone came down after us with bugged out eyes.
“How the heck did you do that?” Eric asked amazed. I smiled brightly feeling pleased that I impressed him. He looked so gorgeous with his hair flowing in the wind I swear I was making a puddle of drool around me. Someone hit me on the shoulder slightly and I looked over to see Delilah raising an eyebrow intriguingly at me as to say ‘what’s up with you?’ I shook my head and shrugging my shoulders impassively answering her unspoken question.
Dylan went to get the hot chocolates and Eric, David and Drew went with him. Natalie, Delilah and I found a seat by the windows so that we could watch skiers.
“You looked so cool when you did that flip over that bump,” Natalie gushed.
“Guys I practically pissed my pants when I did the flip. I didn’t even think the bump was going to give me so much air” I told them honestly. Delilah and Natalie looked at each other before bursting out into laughter.
“Ha-ha” I laughed dryly.
“What’s so funny?” David asked Delilah handing her hot chocolate. Eric handed me mine and Drew gave Natalie hers. Delilah was about to answer but I kicked her foot under the table.
“Ow” she glared at me before clearing her throat. “Nothing, Lori just gave us a joke” she said sipping on her hot chocolate. I relaxed contently. I didn’t want the guys to know how scared I was or else they would never let me hear the end of it.
As we were enjoying our hot chocolates and watching other skiers Chris appeared out of nowhere.
“Hey guys” he beamed taking a seat next to me on the bench.
“Dude, you missed this amazing flip Lori did on the slopes” Drew gushed flashing me a proud smile. I gave a slight smile and sipped on my hot chocolate quietly wishing the ground could swallow me whole right now. I don’t want the guys going around telling everyone what just happened today. It was all pure luck and I'm just thankful that I'm not in the ER with a broken neck.
Chris smiled at me and nudged me slightly.
“Way to be Stewart” he grinned. I nodded not saying a word. “Hey actually I came here hoping I could talk to you for a second?” he said.
“Sure.” I got up following him away from our table. Once we were out of ear shot he turned to face me.
“So I just want to thank you for everything you’ve been doing for me so far with the whole Monica thing” he said gratefully.
“Yeah no problem” I smiled remembering some of our lessons.
*Flashback*
“Ok pretend I'm Monica, how would you approach me?” I asked Chris fixing my hair and batting my eyelashes jokingly. We were on his patio in his backyard and I was helping him how to get Monica to notice the better side of him.
“Ok” he cleared his throat and gave me his famous smile that all the ladies fell for.
“If I had a nickel for every time I saw a girl as beautiful as you I’d have about…5 cents” he said leaning in close giving me a lopsided smile. I rolled my eyes and push him away.
“You’re not trying to pick her up idiot” I scolded. He laughed and held up his hands.
“Ok, ok, let me try again” he said clearing his throat and gazed into my eyes.
“Hey beautiful…that is your name right?” he grinned showing his pearly whites. I couldn’t help but laugh this time.
“Come on Chris, this is serious, do you want to get a conversation out of her or not, because if you don’t want to, go ahead and keep using those cheesy pick up lines. She’ll dump your ass faster than you get laid” I smirked.
“What, I thought that was a great line” he said innocently. I narrowed my eyes and folded my arms.
“Fine” he huffed and tried again. I waited for another of his stupid pick up lines, but it never came.
“Hi, Monica, how are you?” he asked genuinely.
“Good, that’s a start” I smiled. “I'm fine thanks, how are you?” I said politely.
“Great” he beamed. I laughed at his childishness. “You look pretty today – no I mean beautiful – no wait pretty, wait which one do I use?” he asked dramatically waving his hands in the air. “I mean normally all I have to say is you look hot and they melt in my hands” he sighed pouting slightly.
“Anyone will do” I said warily shaking my head. And he calls himself the ladies master. This was going to take awhile.
*End of Flashback*
We went like that for a couple of weeks. It took awhile to break him down, but I finally got a gentleman out of this player. The only thing now is for Monica to see for herself. I was actually quite proud of his accomplishment. I mean a couple of months ago I hated this guy with passion.
“So what are you going to do now?” I asked curious to what his next step might be.
“Well I haven’t spoken to her yet, but when I do, I'm going to ask her out, hopefully she’ll say yes” he smiled worriedly.
“Don’t worry Chris, I'm sure she’ll say yes” I rubbed his arm reassuringly.
“You really think so” he asked hopefully.
I nodded my head. “Yeah, definitely, heck I would say yes if you asked me out right now” I joked.
“Wow, I'm must improved a lot then huh” he smirked giving me a wink.
“Big time” I teased. He laughed and embraced me into another hug.
“Thanks a million Stewart” he whispered in my ear.
“Hey guys” I let go of Chris to see Eric glaring slightly at Chris.
“Hey” I smiled. I watched as Chris and Eric gave each other the ‘male stare down’ I rolled my eyes and walked over to Eric. He finally pulled his gaze away from Chris to me with a gentler look in his eyes.
“We’re going to go site seeing, you want to come?” he asked looking down at me with eyes so gentle and sweet it made my stomach flip.
“Kay” I whispered staring into his eyes feeling a wave of calmness wash over me. He took my hand and started pulling me away from Chris and back to the group which was now waiting for us by the front entrance. I turned back to see Chris standing there looking alone.
“Hey do you want to join us” I smiled offering my hand. He gave me a grateful smile but shook his head.
“Nah, it’s cool” he said waving his hand like it was nothing. “Think I'm going to go look for a certain someone” he said casting me a wink and headed the opposite direction. I chuckled as I turned around to see Eric looking down at me with a curious look on his face.
“What?” I asked curiously.
“Nothing” he said shaking his head and looked away. His jaws were visibly clenched and I knew that something was bothering him.
“You’re lying” I pointed out.
“What are you talking about?” he asked amazed. I gave him an ‘are you serious look’
“I’ve known you my whole life Eric. I know when something’s bothering” I stated watching as his jaws clenched and unclenched.
“It’s not bothering me, but I'm just wondering why you’re still associating with that guy?” he mumbled.
“Are you still talking to that troll?” I questioned referring to Ashley. He didn’t reply and I took that as a yes. “Well there you go” I said through clenched teeth. How could he stand there and question my new friendship with Christopher, if he’s doing – well almost the same thing with Ashley? And as much as it bothers me that he’s talking to her, I don’t show it. I'm trying to be understanding about it, why can’t he?
For the rest of the day we walked around the lodge stopping at shops and buying souvenirs. This place is absolutely incredible and I can’t believe we get to stay here for a week. I love going to the mountains, it has such a calm relaxing feeling to it.
We got back to the main lobby around 10.
“Holy crap I'm beat” Delilah sigh dropping on a couch heavily. I went over and curled up in her lap. “You want to head to our rooms” Delilah proposed. I nodded getting up and stretching slightly.
“Hey how about you girls come to our rooms to watch a movie?” Drew suggested looking directly at Natalie. Delilah and I exchanged knowing looks before responding.
“Yeah sounds great, what do you think Nat” I asked looking at her; she nodded her head agreeing to the idea. “Alright then it’s settled, movies in the boys room, what time you want us over?” I asked.
“About an hour,” Drew suggested.
“Sounds like a plan” Dee grinned before leading us girls to our rooms. Once I was got in went to the bed collapsing on it heavily.
“What do you want to do for an hour?” Natalie asked perching herself at the foot of my bed.
“Jacuzzi” Delilah screeched. We laughed liking the idea and headed for the Jacuzzi.
“Ahhh. This is paradise” Delilah smiled closing her eyes and tilting her head back.
“Hm-hm” I mumbled relaxing deeper into the warm water. I'm so glad I came on this trip.
“Hey can I ask you guys something?” Natalie asked after a while.
“Sure,” Delilah and I answered in union.
“Do you think Drew likes me?” she asked looking slightly hopeful. Delilah and I couldn’t contain our grins as we looked at Natalie.
“Why, do you like him?” I teased. She blushed lightly and nodded her head. “Awww” I gushed. She laughed embarrassed and splashed me with some water. I shrieked and splashed her back. She laughed wiping the water from her face.
“Well there could be a slight chance he does” I answered simply. Her eyes sparkled at my response.
“You think, did he say anything?” she asked excitedly. I bit my lip wanting to tell her that he does indeed have feelings for her, but I was afraid Drew might bite my head off if I interfered. I shrugged my shoulders refusing to get involved in Drew’s business. He’ll tell her when the time is right. She scowled slightly not happy with that answer, but didn’t push it any further. Instead she splashed me again giving a devious grin. I gasped at her and splashed her, and pretty soon a water fight broke out between the three of us.
After our little splash fight, we got out and dried ourselves off getting into PJ’s and blow-drying our hair before we went over to the boys. Ashley hadn’t shown up from the time we were there and quite frankly none of us cared.
We shut the door and headed down the hallway to the elevator. The boys were actually a floor below in room 410. When we got to the boy’s floor my stomach started to do flip flops because I was excited to see Eric. I really need to control these wild feelings or else I might lose the best friendship I ever had. As we approached the boy’s room I noticed something that made me stumble in my step. Eric was talking to the one person who makes my skin crawl with non-believe.
“Why is he talking to her?” Delilah asked some disgust in her tone. I glared at Ashley who had a stupid grin on her face as she spoke with Eric. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but my blood started to boil and I couldn’t stand seeing him talk to her. Now I've never been the one jealous of any girl Eric’s ever spoke to, but for some reason I couldn’t stand seeing him talk to her. Jealousy rose in me as I watched her stroke his arm seductively. He was clenching his jaws as he spoke. The two were so heated in their conversation that they didn’t see us approaching.
“Just don’t tell her anything please, I'm begging you” I heard Eric say as we approached him. He finally sensed our presence and turned around to look at us. The moment our eyes connect the color from his face drained and he looked like he was going to throw up.
“Hey” I mumbled.
“Hey” he said softly. Ashley snorted slightly and I turned my head to glare at her which she returned instantly. She finally got tired of our stare down and turned to Eric.
“I’ll see you later” she winked before pushing past me, her shoulder hitting against mine roughly.
“What were you two talking about?” I asked curiously looking at Eric.
“Nothing important” he shrugged looking away. I felt my stomach drop and I felt like falling to the ground with sudden weakness. I thought we were past keeping secrets from each other? I probably looked like I was going to pass out or something because Eric wrapped his arms around my waist pulling me to his chest.
“I promise you it’s nothing, she was just bothering me about bio that’s all” he assured. I looked up slowly into his green eyes searching for any indication that he was lying. His eyes burned intensely as they gazed down at me. I knew he was hiding something from me, but I didn’t want to fight over Ashley. I was done constantly fighting about her. That girl was nothing but trouble.
“Hey you guys coming in or what?” Dylan asked sticking his head out the door. I looked to see that it was just me and Eric standing alone in the hallway. Delilah and Natalie already went in.
“Come on princess” Eric smiled taking my hand. I growled slightly at the name trying to hit him. He laughs avoiding my swats and I smile happy that the tension was gone.
The room was dark and a movie was already going. Everyone was sprawled over on one bed. Eric and I found room and snuggled in with everyone.
I relaxed into his comfortably and he wrapped an arm around my shoulder. Once again the butterflies erupted in my stomach. I let out a deep breath calming my nerves. How long can I go keeping my feelings hidden without going crazy? This surely shouldn’t be healthy for anyone, but the thought of losing Eric was completely unbearable. Even though I want to say something, I can’t risk losing him. But then again who wouldn’t have feelings for Eric? He’s sweet, caring, funny, comforting, very attractive, muscular… crap get a hold of yourself. I sighed leaning into him more loving the feel of his arms around me. This is how things are between, calm and comfortable. If I tell him I’ve fallen for him our friendship will never be the same again and I won’t let that happen. I just have to get over my feelings for him. I can’t fall for my best friend. I just need to keep ignoring them, for the sake of our friendship.
Author's Note:
I hope you enjoyed this one, tell me what you think :)